1894-04-23 Essex, England, UK
Basil Sydney (23 April 1894 – 10 January 1968) was an English stage and screen actor. Sydney made his name in 1915 in the London stage hit Romance by Edward Sheldon, with Broadway star Doris Keane, and he costarred with Keane in the 1920 silent film of the play. The couple married in 1918, and when Keane revived Romance in New York City in 1921, Sydney made his Broadway debut in the parts. He stayed in New York for over a decade playing classical roles such as Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet (1922), Richard Dudgeon in The Devil's Disciple (1923), the title role in Hamlet (1923), Prince Hal in Henry IV, Part I (1926), and Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew (1927).[citation needed] In 1937 he starred in the murder mystery Blondie White in the West End. He made over 50 screen appearances, most memorably as Claudius in Laurence Olivier's 1948 film of Hamlet. He also appeared in classic films like Treasure Island (1950), Ivanhoe (1952), and Around the World in Eighty Days (1956), but the focus of his career was the stage on both sides of the Atlantic.
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The Hands of Orlac | Maurice Seidelman | 1960-12-01 |
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The 3 Worlds of Gulliver | Emperor of Lilliput | 1960-11-30 |
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A Story of David | King Saul | 1960-12-01 |
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John Paul Jones | Sir William Young | 1959-06-16 |
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The Devil's Disciple | Lawyer Hawkins | 1959-08-20 |
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A Question of Adultery | Sir John Loring | 1958-07-15 |
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Sea Wife | Bulldog | 1957-08-20 |
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Island in the Sun | Julian Fleury | 1957-06-12 |
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Mayerling | The Emperor Franz Joseph | 1957-02-04 |
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Around the World in Eighty Days | Reform Club Member | 1956-10-17 |
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Simba | Mr Crawford | 1955-01-07 |
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The Dam Busters | Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Harris G.C.B., O.B.E., A.F.C. | 1955-05-16 |
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Star of India | King Louis XIV | 1954-01-02 |
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Hell Below Zero | Bland | 1954-01-13 |
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Three's Company | Dr. Graham | 1953-10-26 |
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Salome | Pontius Pilate | 1953-03-24 |
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The Magic Box | William Fox-Talbot | 1952-01-01 |
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Ivanhoe | Waldemar Fitzurse | 1952-07-31 |
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Treasure Island | Captain Smollett | 1950-07-19 |
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The Angel with the Trumpet | Francis Alt | 1950-03-20 |
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Hamlet | Claudius - The King | 1948-12-10 |
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The Man Within | Sir Henry Merriman | 1947-05-19 |
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Meet Me at Dawn | Georges Vermorel | 1947-02-17 |
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Jassy | Nick Helmar | 1947-08-13 |
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Caesar and Cleopatra | Rufio | 1945-12-11 |
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Went the Day Well? | Major Hammond / Kommandant Orlter | 1942-12-07 |
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The Next of Kin | Naval captain | 1942-06-15 |
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The Black Sheep of Whitehall | Costello | 1942-02-23 |
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The Farmer's Wife | Samuel Sweetland | 1941-04-20 |
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Spring Meeting | James | 1941-01-23 |
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Ships with Wings | Capt. Fairfax | 1941-11-10 |
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Bits of Our Aircraft are Missing | (uncredited) | 1940-01-01 |
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The Four Just Men | Frank Snell | 1939-06-01 |
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Accused | Eugene Roget | 1936-12-18 |
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Rhodes of Africa | Dr. Jim Jameson | 1936-06-30 |
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The Amateur Gentleman | Louis Chichester | 1936-04-26 |
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Talk of the Devil | 1936-12-09 | |
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Blind Man's Bluff | Dr. Peter Fairfax | 1936-03-01 |
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Crime Over London | 'Joker' Finnigan | 1936-10-21 |
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The Riverside Murder | Inspector Philip Winton | 1935-03-02 |
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The Tunnel | Mostyn | 1935-10-27 |
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The Third Clue | Reinhardt Conway | 1934-11-20 |
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Dirty Work | Hugh Stafford | 1934-12-07 |
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The Midshipmaid | Cmdr. Fosberry | 1932-12-08 |
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Red Hot Romance | Rowland Stone | 1922-02-13 |
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Romance | 1920-05-16 |
